Stimulating Creative Survival
Indianapolis First Friends
Pastor Bob Henry
August 26, 2018
Luke 16:1-13 (The Voice)
16 Here’s a parable He told the disciples:
Jesus: Once there was a rich and powerful man who had an asset manager. One day, the man received word that his asset manager was squandering his assets.
2 The rich man brought in the asset manager and said, “You’ve been accused of wrongdoing. I want a full and accurate accounting of all your financial transactions because you are really close to being fired.”
3 The manager said to himself, “Oh, no! Now what am I going to do? I’m going to lose my job here, and I’m too weak to dig ditches and too proud to beg. 4 I have an idea. This plan will mean that I have a lot of hospitable friends when I get fired.”
5 So the asset manager set up appointments with each person who owed his master money. He said to the first debtor, “How much do you owe my boss?” 6 The debtor replied, “A hundred barrels[a] of oil.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your bill by half. Just write 50 on this contract.” 7 Then he said to the second debtor, “How much do you owe?” This fellow said, “A hundred bales[b] of wheat.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your debt by 20 percent. Just write down 80 bales on this contract.”
8 When the manager’s boss realized what he had done, he congratulated him for at least being clever. That’s how it is: those attuned to this evil age are more clever in dealing with their affairs than the enlightened are in dealing with their affairs!
9 Learn some lessons from this crooked but clever asset manager. Realize that the purpose of money is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind. Eventually money will be useless to you—but if you use it generously to serve others, you will be welcomed joyfully into your eternal destination.
10 If you’re faithful in small-scale matters, you’ll be faithful with far bigger responsibilities. If you’re crooked in small responsibilities, you’ll be no different in bigger things. 11 If you can’t even handle a small thing like money, who’s going to entrust you with spiritual riches that really matter? 12 If you don’t manage well someone else’s assets that are entrusted to you, who’s going to give over to you important spiritual and personal relationships to manage?
13 Imagine you’re a servant and you have two masters giving you orders. What are you going to do when they have conflicting demands? You can’t serve both, so you’ll either hate the first and love the second, or you’ll faithfully serve the first and despise the second. One master is God and the other is money. You can’t serve them both.
So, today we have what is considered possibly the most notorious – “widely and unfamously” – known parable of Jesus. Jesus chooses to use a dishonest, conniving crooked person for an example for us today. [It is hard to believe sometimes what texts arises for a specific Sunday. Sometimes, like today, it almost seems ironic with all that is going on in our world.]
I personally still have a hard time when Paul uses slavery or war to make his point or illustrate the faith-life, but folks, this is Jesus actually choosing a man of “doubtful reputation” for an example.
If you remember last week’s text – Eric read that Jesus was surrounding himself with people of “doubtful reputation” and the Pharisees were not pleased – utilizing one of these people as an example could not have made things any better for Jesus.
Folks, we need to admit it – Jesus was much more of a radical than we are willing to give him credit for.
So Jesus chooses to use a dishonest assets manager, why?
First, we must acknowledge that Jesus was doing something that is hard for our religious world today.
Too often we are quick to pick out the issue or the behavior that we are not comfortable with in others, but Jesus looks for things that are worth acknowledging – even praising in ALL people. I find the fact that Jesus was willing to use a dishonest, even crooked, person as an example gives you and I hope. This is the Quaker Jesus – seeing that of God in all people. Seeing worth in who we may consider worthless.
Jesus points out that the dishonest manager…
1. Knew that he would be called to account someday and took his job seriously.
2. Creatively found a way to survive – and possibly work out his future.
In the Message translation, Eugene Peterson expounds on this behavior and describes in greater detail just what people like this dishonest assets manager are really up to.
From the Message (Luke 16:9):
“They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits.”
And then the Message goes on to say…
“I want you to be smart in the same way – but for what is right – using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essential, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”
Just ponder what Jesus is getting at – what if we took seriously the way of Jesus – and when asked to give an account by another person or by God – we would articulate the ways that our neighbors, our relatives, our friends, have experienced the hope and life through their daily lives?
Ask yourself this morning…
How creative have I been at living out the Jesus Way to the hurting world around me?
Have I utilized my own adversity – pain – struggles - failures – even abuses – to stimulate a creative way for me and those around me to survive this world and to truly live?
[Pause]
Also, many people like to talk about this parable in eternal words. That is because of how verse 9 ends. Let me read it again from the Voice,
9 Learn some lessons from this crooked but clever asset manager. Realize that the purpose of money is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind. Eventually money will be useless to you—but if you use it generously to serve others, you will be welcomed joyfully into your eternal destination.
Too often, people today are living solely for the afterlife – or what we often translate eternity. That great hope someday. Don’t get me wrong – we need to have an eternal perspective, but let’s be honest, aren’t we desperately in need of a little bit of eternity in the present?
I think we could all handle a little heaven on earth right now. That reminds me of the 80’s song by Belinda Carlisle – two lines seem to speak to our condition in that song, “Heaven is a Place on Earth”:
They say in heaven love comes first
We'll make heaven a place on earth
In this world we're just beginning
To understand the miracle of living
Baby I was afraid before
But I'm not afraid anymore
We need to really live in this world – otherwise this life becomes meaningless or useless – and all we become are people looking for an escape route.
Maybe the way we could see this is not in terms of simply heaven, but in terms of Resurrection. We often wrap heaven and eternity with a nice bow called “resurrection.”
Yet, I think we often miss the importance of resurrection in our daily and present life. I consider each of us in this room “resurrection people.” We are people who should be working to bring LIFE back into our world. Life where death has occurred and hope has been lost.
For the sake of our world, we need desperately to expand our understanding of resurrection. It is more than an Easter topic or something we talk about with physical death. Resurrection is and always has been for NOW – in the present moment. It is the elixir to our ailments. It is the harbinger of hope. It is the way to LIFE.
Resurrection can be a part of everything we do, everything we own, everything we say, everything that makes up this world. Every asset we have can be used for bringing about resurrection in our world for us and our neighbor. Why? Because…
To be resurrection people means we are living a life that “stimulates creative survival.”
Stimulating Creative Survival happens when
· We use our assets (money, time, possessions, talents) for strengthening relationships.
· We are generous and kind to our neighbors.
· And when we serve others.
This literally is bringing “resurrection” into the world.
When we work to create this in our daily lives…
When we work for what is right and just…
When we are willing to utilize our own adversities (like the dishonest, crooked assets manager) to stimulate us to creative survival, to concentrate our attention on the bare essentials…we then experience true resurrection in the present moment.
The text says it this way,
“You’ll live, really live, and not complacently just getting by on good behavior”
Really living – that’s the definition of resurrection.
If you and I want to make a difference in this world…
If you and I want this world to make a difference in our lives…
If you and I want to experience LIFE instead of death, pain, sadness, then just maybe we are going to need to be like that dishonest crooked assets manager only for the good or should I say for resurrection sake.
Rumi said it so well,
Every object and being in the universe is a jar overflowing with wisdom and beauty, a drop of the Tigris that cannot be contained by any skin. Every jarful spills and makes the earth more shining, as though covered in satin... Make peace with the universe. Take joy in it. It will turn to gold. Resurrection will be now. Every moment, a new beauty.
It’s time for us to stimulate creative survival in this world. It is time for us to live as resurrection people. Embrace your adversities, embrace the resurrection life, and lets really live!